Sump To Summit

We drove up to the beautiful village of Anergui, which we’d visited a year earlier and where we’d had one of the most epic climbing experiences of our lives: Eagles Beak (HVS 5a).

This time, we decided on a nice, easy day to ease back into climbing in Morocco. Our route of choice was Talk Armada (VS 4b), a nine-pitch climb. I led the first pitch, which was brilliant—easy route-finding thanks to someone who’d previously climbed it and left plenty of chalk marks.

We alternated leads, stretching the pitches as far as possible to stitch them together.

The last roped pitch I led was a bit tense and definitely pushed me toward the edge of my comfort zone.

We scrambled to the summit with such beautiful evening lighting. I balanced my GoPro on a rock to take a photo of the pair of us. I’d actually set it on video. After standing smiling like chuffs waiting for a “10 second countdown”, I turned to El, dropped to one knee and asked her to marry me. After a huge amount of ‘oh my gods’ and ‘are you serious’s’ she finally said yes. This was the absolute perfect start to our Moroccan holiday, and writing this, 3 days later, I’ve still got a smile on my face! 

We scrambled and walked down to Anergui Col, then followed the familiar path (from the year before) back to the car. From there, we drove to Tafraoute and headed straight to Chez Nadia’s for a celebratory dinner.

Before the trip, Chris and Retha had asked what we were most looking forward to. Without hesitation, El had replied in her best Mrs. Tweedy voice: “the chicken pie,” while my answer had been, “spending 10 days with El.” At Chez Nadia’s, El finally got her chicken pie, so it was smiles all around to end an unforgettable day!